MANCHESTER, England – Although taking the featured slot on the preliminary card of Saturday’s “UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera” event, a welterweight contest between British fighters John Hathaway and Paul Taylor was the only one to go the distance.

However, while the preliminary card’s five other bouts ended via stoppage (four of them via knockout), Taylor vs. Hathaway was no less a beatdown.

Saturday’s prelims, including Hathaway vs. Taylor, preceded the night’s televised main card (delayed in the U.S.) and took place at a soldout MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

Hathaway, a former rugby player who moved into pro MMA a little more than three years ago, moved to 3-0 in the UFC (12-0 overall) with a three-round shellacking of Taylor, a longtime UFC fighter who’s competed exclusively on the organization’s British and German cards.

The bout was never really close. Hathaway easily took the fight to the mat and dominated his opponent when there. Unable to escape, Taylor could do nothing as Hathaway continually moved into dominant positions and rained down damaging ground and pound. Trapped against the cage on numerous occasions, Taylor absorbed a substantial amount of punishment in the third round and dropped the round, 10-8, on one judge’s card.

In the end, all three judges gave Hathaway a shutout decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

With the win, Hathaway moves to 12-0 (3-0 in the UFC) following wins over Thomas Egan and Ricky Story earlier this year. Taylor falls to 10-5-1 (3-4 UFC) with four losses in his past six fights.

While it was Hathaway improving his stock in the welterweight division, it was another preliminary-card fighter who made some serious progress in the lightweight division.

Competing in his seventh UFC fight and sixth in Europe, Terry Etim picked up his fourth consecutive win and moved into lightweight title contention with a slick second-round submission victory over Shannon Gugerty.

After a fairly lackluster and evenly matched first round, Etim opened the second more aggressively and knocked his opponent off balance with kicks from a variety of angles. When Gugerty tried to stop the assault with a takedown, Etim locked on an arm-in guillotine choke. As Gugerty tried to escape and punch his way free, Etim simply tightened the hold and soon forced the tap-out at 1:24 of the second round.

With his win, Etim is now 14-2 overall and 5-2 in the UFC. Since back-to-back losses to Gleison Tibau and Rich Clementi in 2008, Etim has now posted wins over Sam Stout (decision), Brian Cobb (TKO), Justin Buchholz (submission) and Gugerty.

With his second loss in three fights, Gugerty is now 12-4 (2-2 in the UFC).

Although taken down frequently by Riddle, a former high school state wrestling champion, Osipczak remained active on his back, fired off a variety of submission attempts, and often moved into a dominant top position to take the first two rounds of the bout.

Riddle was clearly fatigued by the third round, and even after scoring takedowns, he could do nothing with the position. After one such takedown late in the final round, Osipczak reversed the position, move into mount and delivered a barrage of punches and elbows. The onslaught continued through the crowd’s prolonged cries for a stoppage and mercifully forced the referee’s intervention at the 3:53 mark.

Osipczak has now posted stoppage wins in all five of his career pro bouts, though the Riddle victory is the first to go past the first round.

Concluding a string of knockouts to open the night, Denis Siver used a second-round spinning back kick to set up a TKO victory over British lightweight Paul Kelly.

Silver dropped and injured Kelly with the stinging kick and wisely backed off and waited for his opponent to return to his feet. Kelly labored to get to the standing position but opted to continue despite an apparent rib injury. Siver, though, quickly unloaded a flurry of shots and forced his opponent to retreat to the mat and cover up. The stoppage came at the 2:53 mark of the second round.

The win moves Siver’s record to 14-6 (4-3 UFC). The German fighter went just 1-3 in his first UFC stint from 2007 to 2008. Since his return to the UFC earlier this year, though, he’s 3-0 with additional stoppage wins over Nate Mohr and Dale Hartt. Kelly, who needed help to exit the cage after the bout, falls to 9-2 and 3-2 in the UFC.

Despite entering the UFC with a perfect 8-0 record, Swedish light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson was largely an unknown to North American fight fans unfamiliar with the European fight circuit. Gustafsson, though, did his best to rectify the situation with a rapid-fire offensive assault and first-round TKO of fellow UFC newcomer and former EliteXC star Jared Hamman.

Both knockout specialists let their hands fly early on, and the pace only slowed when Hamman briefly complained of an eyepoke a half minute into the opening round. The action was quickly restarted, and on the ensuing exchange, Gustafsson dropped Hamman with a straight right, jarred loose his mouthpiece with follow-up shots, and eventually forced the stoppage just moments later.

The TKO victory officially came just 41 seconds into the first round and moves Gustafsson to 9-0 (1-0 in the UFC). Hamman drops to 10-2 (0-1 UFC) with two losses in his past three fights.

The night’s opening bout also ended in violent fashion when “The Ultimate Fighter 9″ lightweight runner-up Andre Winner connected with a vicious overhand right that left “TUF 8″ vet Rolando Delgado out on his feet.

After dropping Delgado early in the opening round, Winner connected again and again with a series of blows from distance. Effective only when closing the distance, Delgado couldn’t get out of striking range and was knocked out cold a little more than three minutes into the fight. Winner continued with two additional shots until referee Leon Roberts rushed in to halt the action. The stoppage came at the 3:22 mark.

Winner moves to 10-3-1 overall and 1-1 in the UFC with his first victory in the octagon. Delgado falls to 6-5-1 (1-2 in the UFC).

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.